Early childhood and schools

Teaching in Focus

The Teaching in Focus briefs shed new light on issues surrounding the teaching and learning environment in schools and teachers’ working conditions. As well as touching on work from different projects on teachers and teaching in the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills, they present data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which is the first and only international survey on the conditions of teaching and learning. TALIS fills important information gaps in the international comparisons of education systems. It offers an opportunity for teachers and school principals to give their input into education analysis and policy development in some key policy areas. Cross-country analysis from TALIS allows countries to identify other countries facing similar challenges and to learn from other policy approaches. These briefs will provide policy makers, school leaders and teachers alike with a unique perspective on the experiences of teachers in schools around the world.

TALIS 2018 is the third cycle of this international survey of teachers and school leaders.

The main data were collected in late 2017/early 2018, and initial results and data are expected to be published in June 2019.

The survey’s conceptual framework reflects major concepts from research literature, as well as policy interests, and was developed by researchers in consultation with international stakeholders and participating countries/economies.

The 2018 framework is organised under 11 themes that address both emerging issues in teaching and learning – including new themes of equity and diversity and innovation – and enduring issues from the two previous cycles in 2008 and 2013.

TALIS 2018 focuses on lower secondary education, but also provides information about primary and upper secondary education for those countries that choose either of the options that address these levels.